You’re probably about ready to button up Christmas if you haven’t already done so.  Around our house, New Year’s Day is a time to get the house in order before we return to work.  So, are your decorations packed away or is it on your to do list for later today?  We have one more day before things get back to normal.  We’ve spent the last two weeks in a Christmas whirlwind – visiting family, giving and receiving gifts, preparing and eating meals and many of us made it to the manger at one of our Christmas Eve services or one along the way as we traveled. 

But by Monday or Tuesday, it’s back to normal.  I’ll set my garbage to the curb on Monday morning, get the kids to the bus on Tuesday, schedule doctors’ appointments, take the boys to scouts and tae kwon do and watch one more college football game – normally that wouldn’t be on the list but you see - TCU plays in the Fiesta Bowl Monday night.  You’ll do the same and more – change diapers, pay bills, call on clients and on and on and on.  It always seems to happen after we visit the manger.  Things start to get back to normal – we try to get back to our pre-Thanksgiving weight and our pre-holiday schedule.  But is that how we want it?  Do we want to come away from Christmas this year unfazed by the whole experience?

Most of us put our decorations away too early.  You see, we’re only 10 days into the twelve days of Christmas.  While retailers would like us to believe that Christmas begins in September, the fact is that, in religious terms, Christmas begins on Christmas Day and lasts for twelve days.  The season of Christmas in the church ends on January 6 – a day called Epiphany – a day of almost bigger gift giving than even Christmas for some of our Hispanic neighbors.  Since we don’t have a church service on Wednesday, we’ll wrap up Christmas at Geist Christian Church today by making our annual bow to Epiphany knowing that it’s still a few days off.  

Epiphany is the day that we read the part of the Christmas story only found in Matthew that has the Magi coming to visit Jesus.  Most of the time we call them “kings” but they were not kings like we usually think of kings.  These “kings” could more accurately be described as early day astrologers – a well-educated lot who would have spent time observing and recording their surroundings – they knew the prophecy for a new king and came to the reigning king – Herod – and said,  “For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”  It was only natural that they would come to the seat of power in Jerusalem to find a new king but Herod would call together people who knew scripture better than he and would learn that the prophet Micah told of this new king being born in Bethlehem of Judea. 

The Magi’s simple inquiry of Herod sets off a chain of events that would lead the Magi into a powerful encounter with the child, Herod into a fit of anger and take the Magi on an alternate route back home.   They had heard Herod say to them to “go and search diligently for the child” and, when you find him, come back and report so that Herod too, could go and pay Jesus homage.  Herod wanting to pay homage to someone who was threatening to take away his throne and his power didn’t ring true with the Magi. They were warned in a dream to find a different way home, to take the bypass around Jerusalem. 

I have a GPS.  I’ve had one since they were big and clunky and just last year, before our youth trip to Puerto Rico, purchased one of the sleek little units.  Both units have the same voice – our family named her “Betty.”  I’ve come to rely on Betty and am much more daring knowing that if I get off the main road, Betty knows how to get me home – in fact, my new GPS even has a button on the touch screen that says – “go home.”  I’ve come to trust Betty to get me where I’m going and back again.  I know, some people have stories about their GPS not having the best way or not exactly pinpointing an address but – knock on wood – Betty has never led me astray or failed to get me home.

If you think about it, this whole story of the Magi centers around who they trust to get them home safely and who they didn’t trust. Had they trusted Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus, history might have been very different. I’m sure the conniving voice of Herod stuck in their minds and with the aid of a dream, after presenting gifts of gold fit for a king, frankincense fit for a priest and myrrh as a gift for one who was to die – a type of embalming spice, they go home by a different road.[1] So in the end their trust was right.

We must all decide, especially after we’ve been to the manger so recently, what we’re going to do now.  What difference is the manger going to make for us this year?  Who will we hear and who will we trust and who will we follow?  Are we going back to the routine too quickly, not allowing ourselves – not giving permission to ourselves - to be changed by Christmas? 

Perhaps you know the story of Babushka – literally “grandmother” in Russian - a children’s story told every year at Epiphany in Russia but a story with meaning for adults.  Once there lived a woman called Babushka. Babushka always had work to do sweeping, polishing, dusting and cleaning. Her house was the best kept, most tidy house in the whole village. Her garden was beautiful and her cooking was wonderful. One evening she was so busy dusting and cleaning that she didn't hear all the villagers outside in the village square talking about and looking at the new star in sky.

She had heard about the new star but thought, 'All this fuss about a star! I don't even have the time to look because I'm so behind with my work. I must work all night!' So, she missed the star as it shone brightly, high overhead. She didn't hear the sounds of the pipes and drums. She missed the sudden quiet of the villagers and even the footsteps coming up the path to her door. But the one thing that she couldn't miss was the loud knocking on her front door!

'Now what is that?' she wondered, opening the door. Babushka gaped in amazement. There were three kings at her door! We need a place to rest,' one said, 'and yours is the best house in the village.' 'You want to stay here?' asked Babushka. 'Yes, it would only be until night falls and the star appears again,' the servant replied. Babushka gulped. 'Come in, then,' she said.

The kings were very pleased when they saw all of the home-baked bread, pies and cakes. She dashed about, serving them, asking lots of questions. 'Have you come a long way?' 'A very long way,' sighed Caspar. 'Where are you going?' 'We're following the new star,' said Melchior. 'But where?' The kings didn't know, but they believed that it would lead them to a new-born king, a King of Earth and Heaven. 'Why don't you come with us?' asked Balthasar. 'You could bring him a gift like we do. I bring gold, and my colleagues bring spices and perfumes.' 'Oh, I'm not sure that he would welcome me,' said Babushka, 'and what could I bring for a gift? Toys! I know I could bring a toy. I've got a cupboard full of toys,' she said sadly. 'My baby son died when he was small.' Balthasar stopped her as she went to tidy the kitchen up. 'This new king could be your king too. Come with us when the star appears tonight,' he said. 'I'll think about it,' sighed Babushka.

As the kings slept, Babushka tidied up as quietly as she could. 'What a lot of extra work there was!' she thought.  There was no time for dreaming, all this washing-up had to be done. The house will have to be cleaned when they've gone. Suddenly it was night-time again and the star was in the sky. 'Are you ready, Babushka?' asked Balthasar. 'I'll come tomorrow,' Babushka called, 'I must just tidy here first and find a gift.'  The kings went away sadly. Babushka ran back into her house, keen to get on with her work.

Finally, she went to the small cupboard, opened the door and gazed at all the toys. But they were very dusty. They weren't fit for a baby king. They would all need to be cleaned. She cleaned all of the toys until each one shined. Babushka looked through the window. It was morning! The star had come and gone. The kings would have found somewhere else to rest by now. She had to sleep too. The next thing she knew, she was awake and it was dark outside. She had slept all day! She quickly pulled on her cloak, packed the toys in a basket and ran down the path the kings had taken.

Everywhere she asked 'Have you seen the kings?' 'Oh yes,' everyone told her, 'we saw them. They went that way.' For days Babushka followed the trail of the kings and the villages got bigger and became towns. But Babushka never stopped. Then she came to a city. 'The palace,' she thought. 'That's where the royal baby would be born.' 'No, there is no royal baby here,' said the palace guard when she asked him. 'What about three kings?' asked Babushka. 'Oh yes, they came here, but they didn't stay long. They were soon on their journey.' 'But where to?' asked Babushka. 'Bethlehem, that was the place. I don't imagine why. It's a very poor place. That's where they went.' replied the guard.

She set off towards Bethlehem. It was evening when Babushka arrived at Bethlehem and she had been travelling for a long time. She went into the local inn and asked about the kings. 'Oh yes,' said the landlord, 'the kings were here two days ago. They were very excited, but they didn't even stay the night.' 'And what about a baby?' Babushka cried. 'Yes there was a baby.' Said the landlord. The kings asked about a baby, too.' When he saw the disappointment in Babushka's eyes, he stopped. 'If you'd like to see where the baby was,' he said quickly, 'it was across the yard there. I couldn't offer the couple anything better at the time. My inn was really full, so they had to go in the stable.'

Babushka followed him across the yard. 'Here's the stable,' he said. He left her in the stable. 'Babushka?' Someone was calling her from the doorway. He looked kindly at her. 'They have gone to Egypt, and safety,' he told Babushka. 'And the kings have returned to their countries. But one of them told me about you. I am sorry but you are too late. It was Jesus that they found, the world's Savior.'

Babushka was very sad that she had missed Jesus and it is said that Babushka is still looking for him.[2]

We have lots of things that will call on our time in this New Year.  There will be a laundry list of things – including laundry – that will rise to the top of the list to call on your time.  There will be times that you will say that you’ll get to that when you get caught up – when the house is clean or when the kids are not fussy.  The excuses are there for you to take the same exact road this year that you took last year – to keep doing those things in your life you need to change or to start doing the things you’ve put off.  The manger reveals many things but I hope it revealed for you this Christmas an opportunity to reprioritize, to take a different way home, to follow what gives you life instead of what pulls you away from a deeper relationship with Christ. 

The Magi refused to go in the direction of their fears. Through their own God-given inner voices, they chose life and growth and joy. They trusted their own inner experience of joy, even if that experience flew in the face of the power and authority and expectations of the world. They went in the direction of the Divine, even though Herod wanted them to go in another direction. That inner joy you experience when you're who and where you're meant to be is the still, small voice of God, beckoning you to live and move and have your being in the person God has meant you to be and not in what the world expects you to be.

Herod has a thousand faces. He is alive today in anyone or anything that leads you away from being overwhelmed with the joy God wants you to have, the peace that comes from being who you really and truly are.  Like trusting Betty, I have to stepped out knowing that the things on that other road are not easy but that other road home is the gift of God and God will move with me courageously, confidently, in that direction.

That's what God wishes for you. I do know it's a tough move. Herod's pull is strong. But on this weekend of Epiphany, when once again we watch a few stargazers offer some gifts to the child who is a king, perhaps we can recognize as well that the Magi bring a gift today to you and to me. What they bring is the gift of their example. It's the example of saying "No" to Herod and "Yes" to Christ. It's the example of saying "No" to fear and "Yes" to joy. It's the example of saying "No" to the painful past and "Yes" to the joyful future. It's the example of trusting your joy enough to build an entire life around it, whether the rest of the world understands and approves or not. And if we can receive that gift, then out of the experience of our lives joyfully lived, we will be more fully and richly able to offer our own gift to the Christ child. And I can think of no gift that would grace him more than for us to trust and to live each day in the joy that is the reason he came in the first place.

The Magi were on a spiritual journey – they’re going one direction to God. They were moved by being in the presence of Jesus – even as a baby.  Were you changed on Christmas Eve?  After seeing Jesus they went in a new direction. Where are you going?  I hope the story of the Magi becomes your story. The Christmas story has this amazing baby, sent by God to save all people. So what road will you take? What does Christmas mean to you? Christmas is over – or is it?